I finished spinning the dirty Romney “Rhinebeck blues” roving (and I did in fact originally photograph it with the wrong Shetland sweater that matches it and will be frogged if I need to stretch out yardage). I’m not sure what I’m going to make with this yet although I know it will be something more along the lines of outerwear since I doubt I’d want to wear this next to my skin. This will be stored indefinitely at the moment while I work on some other projects this summer. And silly me, I forgot to count the yardage before I skeined it for the photo…

During our woods weekend last month, I got out the old long-suffering UFO cotton blanket and came up with a plan of how to finish it. I ripped out a green stripe/strip that was nearly finished just because I’d have to make another and I didn’t want to. Instead it will have a couple of narrow white stripes and then a border of green… I think. I may take it with me to another upcoming woods trip to hopefully finish or at least complete the body.

And I just finished a short-sleeved sweater that has yet to be mentioned in public because it was another very long-suffering UFO and I was considering tossing the whole thing in the frog pond.

It is the the Chiton Pullover by Melissa Wehrle, and yes it was on the cover of the Winter/Spring 2011 issue of Knitscene. It was the first time I got a magazine (hit newsstands in 2010) and got some yarn and started right away. I don’t know why I didn’t get the recommended yarn (which is quite lovely) but I think I wanted a cotton blend, and I know I wanted dark brown, and what I got was very inexpensive. But it ended up that I really didn’t like this yarn – Elann’s Luna – it is slick and splitty, had lots of knots and broken parts, and of course is without the elasticity and sheepiness of wool, so I found I didn’t feel like working on it very often. I also fear the weight of the cotton will pull it downwards – the pattern is already long-torso friendly which I love, but things could get too long. I originally wanted it to wear in my former overly air-conditioned office, which I no longer have. And I also didn’t really consider the practicality of somewhat thick, but short-sleeved sweaters – indoors your torso is cozy but your arms goose-bumpy and then you go outside and your arms are comfy and torso is sweaty… not to mention the added impracticality of having to wash the damn thing nearly every time it’s worn due to the odoriferous nuances of summer armpits. But it’s done and I’ll keep it around for the time being.

And the latest spinning technique I’ve attempted is Navajo or chain plying. And I suck at it. But I found a good use for the redwood roving as my f*ck-it-up-all-I-want-because-I-don’t-care practice fiber. And I’m glad I used it because I would’ve destroyed some great new hand-painted roving instead, but now I need to make an old-fashioned three-ply out of it which I was hoping to avoid.

And I also discovered I’ve been spinning left-handed. I’m ambidextrous in many things except writing and continental knitting (you’ve noticed I don’t do a lot of stranded color work, eh?). But it was a little surprising that when I switched to right-handed, I sucked, so southpaw spinning is the way for me.

My other publicly proclaimed UFOs from months before? The sweater quilt is packed away to discourage summer moths, I’m still picking at the shirt quilt, and the rug and a couple of others I’ve yet to mention…? Well, let’s not go there just now… but at least there are fewer than before, right? Do I get a cookie?